Of the Vortex Born
by its-Rayning-men
Summary: Take 1 Rose Tyler trapped in a parallel word, add 1 lonely Time Lord Plus companions, add second reformed Time Lord with intergalactic motley crew, stir in Torchwood, shake well. Recipe for disaster? Maybe. 10thDoc Part of the 'Time and Space' series.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This was Chapter 3 of 'Time, Space, and Everything in Between' but it's going to become the prologue to the next instalment of the series I was writing about Vala (from SG1) being a Time Lord (or is that Lady? I'm never too sure). Some of you may have read it before but I've gone over it and made a few changes and so on so I hope you don't mind reading it again. If you haven't read that fic you might want to although I'll provide info in the ANs for those that haven't if people get confused.

This story is my version of how Rose makes it back to the Doctor.

This is AU for both DW (The last three eps of season 4 didn't happen) and SG1.

Torchwood (with Tosh and Owen) will show up as well, mainly because I think a bigger deal should have been made when Jack and Rose saw each other again for the first time.

Hope you all enjoy, please let me know what you think.

***

In the back of Rose Tyler's mind something stirred.

***

"Tony! Adam!" the exasperation was clear in Jackie Tyler's voice as she called on her two sons. "If you two don't hurry up you're going to be late for school, again!"

At 13 Tony seemed to be entering his moody teen-age phase a little early and so was not too excited about school, or anything else for that matter. However Jackie could handle this, she had already raised one daughter and knew how to deal with moody teenagers.

Adam, while being 3 years younger, always had to copy his big brother. If Tony wanted something then Adam just had to have it too. If Tony decided he didn't want to do something anymore then Adam didn't want to do it either.

This new aversion to school was proving to be no different.

"TONY, ADAM! If I have to come up there and get you there will be trouble" At this new call there was a bang as doors where shut and no more than 30 seconds later the boys were standing in front of her. Jackie Tyler was definitely the disciplinarian in the house. The phrase 'Wait till your father gets home' held no weight in the Tyler residence. Pete was putty in the hands of his children.

"Right, that's better. Now here's your lunch. Go get your blazers then we can go."

There was an unintelligible grumble from Tony and a "yes mum" from Adam as the boys went to fetch their school blazers.

Jackie stuck her head round the kitchen door to see her husband reading the paper and finishing his coffee. "We're off now darlin', I'll see you when you get back tonight. Don't be late and mind Rose is coming back tonight" Pete nodded but didn't look up from his paper.

"Gotcha Jacks, Rose back, don't be late"

Jackie huffed and left to get the boys into the car. She didn't take it personally after 14 years of marriage in this world and 3 years in the other, to a different Pete, Jackie knew that her husband was not one for conversation in the mornings.

***

Rose sighed as she got off the zeppelin. It was good to be back in England.

Even after 14 years in this parallel world she still didn't think of it as home, home wasn't even her original Earth.

Home was the TARDIS.

It had been nearly six months since she had left. She had been in America. The rift was acting up and she was the only one qualified to know how to even attempt to fix it. Instead of running through Cardiff, like it did on her original Earth, the one on this world ran through New York City. While it was normally dormant around six months ago the station set up to monitor it, hidden under the Statue of Liberty, had reported intermittent power spikes.

As the Torchwood 'Go To' woman Rose had been sent to investigate.

She was always sent when something more unusual than what Torchwood normally dealt with came up. While it might have been Torchwoods job to manage the Cardiff rift, the rift in this universe had never so much as made a peep so no one here knew how to deal with it.

She picked up her black hold all as she spotted the car that had been sent for her.

The rest of her luggage would be collected and delivered straight to her flat. Getting into the car she greeted the driver, Freddie, and told him she'd like to stop for some chips on the way to the Tyler mansion.

***

When they pulled up in the drive way Rose sat in the car until she had finished the bag of chips, delighting in the fact that they were wrapped in proper newspaper, and knowing that at some point she would have to get out and go into the house.

She was just about finished when the door flew open and a mass of brown hair launched itself at her. She caught the grinning Adam up into a huge hug.

"Rose! You're back!" the boy yelled in delight hugging his big sister.

Rose laughed and let him go as he reached for the chips on the seat beside her. "Had enough of mums cooking then have you?"

It was a point of some debate in the Tyler household that Jackie still did the cooking. She said it was something to keep her down to earth when everything else in the house was done by a staff. Pete, Rose and the boys had tried for years to get her to hire a cook, carefully explaining to her that she didn't have to do it but knowing the real reason they wanted a propper cook was that Jackie was terrible.

The boy nodded as he ate the last few chips from the bag.

"Right then, lets get inside. Thanks for the ride Freddy" Rose thanked the driver.

"No problem Miss Rose. It's my job after all." he said with a smile and a nod.

Inside the house Rose was greeted by hugs from her mother and Pete.

"Where's Tony?" Rose asked, noticing her other brothers' absence.

"He's in his room sulking" Jackie responded with a shake of her head "I'll go get him"

"Nah, let me, you guys go get ready for tea yeah?" her mother nodded and Rose set off up the stairs to find her missing brother.

When she got to his room the door was slightly ajar and she could see him lying on his bed listening to music. Rose considered her options then barged right in ignoring his cry of "Hey! Get out!"

Plopping down on the bed beside him Rose considered Tony while he glared at her.

When he was younger he had idolised Rose as his big sister. She would tell him stories of her travels with the Doctor and of all the places she had been. When Adam was old enough she had told them to him too, both of them sitting snuggled up next to her listening in amazement. What had happened while she had been away? When she had talked to him last week he had been fine, telling her about how he hated school and that he fancied a girl in his year called Abby.

Rose prodded him in the side, "Is that any way to great your wonderful big sister?" No response "What's got your knickers in a twist then?" Still nothing. "Fine be that way, hurry up mums nearly got tea on the table. Move it and get washed up"

She walked out of the room only pausing slightly at the door to make sure he actually did what he was told.

Dinner was filled with catching up on the last six months as everyone tried to look like they were eating, but not actually eat, Jackie's shepherds' pie. The only person who was quiet was Tony. Adam couldn't get enough of his big sister; to him she was still the coolest person on the planet.

It was just as desert was being served that everything hit the fan.

Rose was laughing at the gossip that Jackie was retelling "Mum! I can't believe you!"

Tony mumbled something under his breath, only not so quietly that no one hared.

"What was that love?" Rose asked.

"Don't call her that" he repeated, a bit louder this time. "Don't call her mum!"

Pete looked over at his eldest son in concern while Rose and Jackie shared a look. Adam stared at them all in turn, completely bewildered by the sudden turn of events.

"What you on about Tony? Why shouldn't Rose call her mum?" Pete tried to work out what was going on in his sons mind.

"Shut up dad, you're just as bad. You lied to us! She's not our sister!" Tony's face was getting red with anger.

Jackie tried to calm him down "What do you mean sweetheart, of course Rose is your sister"

"No she isn't!" Tony was shouting in earnest now "I found the picture in the study when I was looking for my English homework. She's adopted! She's not our sister!"

"Tony, we explained this to you, remember about Rose and your mum being from a parallel world? I had to adopt Rose to make her my legal daughter but that doesn't mean she's not your sister." Pete explained. Wondering why this was being brought up now and what picture Tony was talking about.

"NO! Even back there she was! Look" Tony got up from his seat and ran out of the room.

"Jacks what's he on about?" Pete questioned his wife, seeing the look that was passed between her and Rose.

Jackie didn't get a chance to reply though as Tony came storming back into the room with a small photo; it was crinkled round the edges from age.

"See! Look, that's the other you and mum with Rose." He handed the picture to his father. "Look on the back" Pete turned it over.

On the back in Jackie's curvy hand writing was _'Rose, finally ours"_ and underneath it the date. In the photo Rose had to be around three months old.

"Jacks?" Pete was more than confused.

Jackie shook her head "Rose why don't you take the boys through to the front room, me and your dad need to speak in privet" Rose, knowing that Adam at least shouldn't hear what was going to be said, nodded and motioned of him to follow her.

"Tony you go to, up to your room, me and your mum need to talk" when Tony didn't look like he was going to move Pete snapped at him "Now Tony!"

The boy looked like he was about to argue about wanting to know the truth but stopped when he saw the look on his fathers face, it was the one he rarely used at home, it was his Torchwood face. He left the room without another word.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Rose." Jackie started after a few tense minuets of silence. "It was stupid I know but… I thought if you knew you wouldn't want her and no matter how much I wanted you if you didn't want Rose then I couldn't have stayed. I lost you once, I didn't want to do it again but I would have for her."

Pete considered what his wife had said.

Back in the beginning his and Roses relationship wasn't the best, it still wasn't if he was honest. She was a young woman when she came into his life, she didn't need a father. If he had known would it have changed his mind about legally adopting her?

"It wouldn't have changed anything Jacks, even if she wasn't your biological daughter she was still your daughter."

She looked over at him apprehensively, biting down on her thumb nail.

"I'm not mad about this Jacks" he continued "About the fact you lied to me? Yeah. But not about what you lied about"

He walked over and gathered her in his arms, stroking her hair as she cried tears of relief.

***

In the living room Rose was having a similar conversation with Adam.

"Are you really not my sister?" he was sitting on her lap looking up at her with large brown eyes.

"Yes I am Ads, no matter what I'll always be your big sister, nothings ever going to change that, ok?"

He nodded slightly, his eyes still unsure "But if you're adopted that means mum and dad aren't your mum and dad"

"They are Ads, just because I'm adopted doesn't change that" She wasn't going to get into her issues with Pete. "Families too important to be left up to biology, it's the family that we make for ourselves that matters. Do you understand?"

Another nod "I think so" he wrapped his arms around her just like he had in the car and hugged her. "Love you Rose" he whispered in her ear.

"Love you too Ads" she replied. It was when she looked up that she noticed Tony standing by the door. "Do you understand?" she asked him.

He didn't reply but came into the room and sat down beside them, all three of them squashed into a large arm chair.

"Tell us about the time you went to ancient Rome" Adam asked.

So she did. Then she told them another story, and another.

She loved her little brothers so much.

It was going to hurt when she told them she had to go.

***

In the back of Rose Tyler's mind something stirred and woke up.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: The next and first new chunk, of this fic. It will flit back and fourth between Rose's POV and that of The Doctor and SG1. If anything needs explained more let me know, I'll fit it into later chapters. This hasn't been looked at by my BETA so there's probably 1001 mistakes in it, but I've tried my best.

Please let me know what you think :O) it makes me smile...

***

Tap, tap, pause, sigh...

Tap, tap, pause, sigh...

Tap, tap, pause, sigh...

Tap, tap...

"So help me God if you do that one more time I'm going to break your fingers!" Donna blurted out when she could stand the noise no longer, "What's got your knickers all in a twist then? Haven't seen you this agitated in a while."

The Doctor scrunched his face up and rubbed the back of his neck absently with his hand, "It's nothing Donna, just feeling a little twitchy is all. Bit restless, fancy a jaunt to the 64th century? They do a wonderful banana smoothie!"

Donna looked him over with hard stare, he was right, he had been a bit restless even by his own standards for the past few days. Something was on his mind and she knew a 'jaunt' to the 64th century wasn't going to resolve it. Mind made up she jumped from the captain's seat and strode over to the console and hit a large purple button that seemed to be glowing.

"What did you do that for!" The Doctor screeched as he ran around the console trying to stop what ever it was she had done. He had never seen that button before and had no idea what it did. When he looked back up at Donna for an answer the smug smile on her face plus the fact that the TARDIS had begun to move them was all the answer he needed to know that, while he might not have known what was happening, Donna and his ship certainly did. He pouted as the TARDIS came to a halt and he saw the room they where in on the monitor, "You know it's not fair when the two of you gang up on me like this." He huffed.

Donna stood with her arms crossed on her chest, "Well?" she said expectantly. At The Doctors defiant stare she pointed to the doors.

Two heated glares crossed the console room as a battle of wills began, both knowing that Donna was right but The Doctor not wanting to admit it. Donna's foot began to tap against the floor.

"You can't make me go talk to her!" The Doctor told her, he would never understand what it was about Donna that made him act like a petulant teenager at times.

Go out and save a galaxy and possibly all of time – no problem.

Admit that Donna knew, _sometimes_, what was best for him without a fight – not a chance.

Finally The Doctor relented under her fiery gaze, strode off with as much dignity as possible and opened the doors to the room beyond, only to be hit square in the face with a pillow.

"What could you possibly want at this time of night?" The sleep laden voice of Daniel Jackson came from somewhere in the darkened bedroom.

"Here to steal you wife." The Doctor, now with a slight smile in his voice, calls out into the darkness, "She around?"

"Where else is she going to be at 3am?" Daniel grumbled, "Although how she manages to sleep through all this I'll never understand."

"She's not anymore" Vala complains as she sits up, giving Daniel an appeasing kiss to the cheek, "Come on Theta, I think some tea is in order."

***

"But she promised, mum." Adam Tyler moaned as his mother tucks him into his bed.

Jackie sighed, "I know she did sweetheart," She tells him as she smoothes the blanket down around him, anything to distract her from her young sons face, "But you know our Rose, always rushing off all over the place, saves the world your sister does." The kiss she places to his forehead is more for her benefit than his, "Tomorrow love, she'll be back tomorrow."

"Promise?" The boy asks even as his eyes begin to flutter shut.

"Promise."

She is about to close the door shut when she sees Rose leaning wearily against the wall opposite.

"Thanks mum," Rose says her voice low and almost unrecognizable, "You know I hate to lie to him."

Jackie gives her eldest a hard look. "Yeah, so I do."

Rose turns away, her exhaustion written on her face in shadows, "I just…I couldn't tonight. Tomorrow will be better."

"I'm sure it will, sweetheart." Jackie walks past her, standing in the dim light of the corridor. "I wish you'd tell me what's wrong," she says, and sounds so very old. "I wish you'd let me help."

Rose gives a strange, strangled little laugh. "You do help, Mum. You really do. But I can't," She pauses, and looks back to her brother's dark bedroom, "You've forgotten the nightlights," she says, her face troubled, and slips into the room.

Jackie watches from the hall. "He's not afraid of the dark, Rose."

Rose turns the tiny knob under the lamp until her brother's face glows warmly in its light. She smiles, "Lucky him."

***

"So," Vala begins as she pours tea from the pot she keeps especially for The Doctor, "Do I get a reason for you turning up at this ungodly hour, or is it just your horrid sense of timing that's to blame?"

The Doctor sags as he sits at the kitchen table but he doesn't say anything, his banter from the bedroom lost for the moment, and this worries Vala more than his late night appearance. She abandons her tea making when he turns to face her, the look on his face so close to that of the child she once knew that something inside her twists painfully.

The last time she had seen that look on his face he had been eight years old and clinging tightly to her skirt with his tiny hands, begging her not to let them take him away to the Academy, pleading to stay by her side. Cousins born from the looms they might have been but their relationship had always been one of siblings.

"My dear boy," She says as she crosses the room to him, her hands going to his face and soothing away the creases in his brow. A kiss to the top of his head is all it takes for him to wrap his arms around her and cling, "What's wrong?"

"Rose..." The word is muffled and spoken to her stomach but she hears it clearly none the less, "I miss her Vala."

The light chuckle Vala gives causes The Doctor to look up at her in confusion, his melancholic mood momentarily forgotten. She gives him a pat on the head and disentangles herself from his arms, returning to the counter to collect the tea, "Should have known it would be tea and sympathy you where after," she tells him with a smile in her voice and a roll of her eyes.

"Oi!" Now he sounds affronted, "trying to have a sole wrenching moment over here and what do I get from you? Laughter? Now how's that fair."

Another eye roll accompanies the steaming mug that's placed in front of him, "Well what do you expect Theta?" She asks as she takes the seat opposite him, "Have you ever considered that pinning over Rose might be slightly less productive than say... finding a way to bring her back?"

"You're right," Sarcasm this time, "Why did I not think of that before? It must have just slipped my massive Time Lord brain to look for a way to get to her, how silly of me."

He slurps his tea belligerently until Vala glares at him from behind her own mug, "I didn't say 'get to her', I said 'bring her back'. There's a big difference."

"No there isn't, it's just two different ways of saying the same thing."

"Only in that head of yours," She leans across the table and raps her knuckles on his forehead, "must be all that product this regeneration uses in its hair, it's seeped into your brain."

He swats away her hand but the corners of his mouth turn up in an almost smile, "Get off you silly old bat, I'll have you know some people happen to think I'm rather foxy in this incarnation."

The flirtatious wiggle of his eyes brows is something Vala could have done without at 3am. "Yes Theta but some people also believe the moon is made of cheese, doesn't make them right. Anyway, your foxiness aside, I believe I was making a point. The difference between what I said and what you said is that what I said is actually manageable and what you said is impossible."

The Doctor stops mid slurp, "So... I can bring her back, but I can't get to her?" He pauses and his brow wrinkles again, "How does that make sense?"

"Ok so maybe on your own you can't bring her back but you can help her to get back to you." She stands from the table and gives him a parting wave as she makes her way back up the stairs, "Use that big Time Lord Brain of yours, _think_ Theta, how did you reach her before."

The light in the hall goes out and The Doctor stands to pour himself another mug from the pot before returning to his place at the table.

He Sighs, "Never a simple answer with that woman..."

***

In her dreams, Rose remembers.

Half formed images coated in golden light rip through her mind at lightning speed; her first Doctor, his battered leather jacket wrapped around him like armour and ice blue eyes that burn, Jack dead on the floor surrounded by Dalek dust, the loving smile stolen from his face, and always the voice of the TARDIS singing in her head, a lullaby that spills fire through her veins. An ill fated kiss that was never meant to be.

In her dreams, Rose burns.

It's with a gasp that she wakes, hair plastered to her face with sweat and heart drumming in her chest. The clock on the bedside table reads 3:04am and she knows that her rest, if it can be called that, is over for the night. There's frost on the windows and the light of the pale moon filters in through a gap in the curtains, casting a cold white light across her face. There's no man on the moon here, in this strange parallel world that will never really be home, no face looking down on her with a wide grin, and it's on nights like this that she misses that small childhood comfort.

Christmas will be on its way soon, the last of the leaves are already gone from the trees and Rose knows that her time is running out. She can't wait till then, by Christmas she won't have the energy for the journey she knows she has to take. By Christmas she won't have the energy for much at all.

She sighs deeply, knowing what she must do but afraid to do it. She has to leave tonight or she won't leave at all.

She doesn't make a sound as she rises from the bed and dresses. Silence follows her as she makes her way into Adams room and he doesn't stir when she places a kiss to his forehead and leaves a book by his pillow, he'll have stories enough for years with all the book contains. In Tony's room she nearly trips over a stack of DVDs before she gets to his bed but he too sleeps on as he receives a goodbye kiss. She can't risk going to her mum's room, Jackie wakes at the slightest noise these days and if she has to look her mother in the eye she knows she'll never be able to walk out the door. She leaves a note for her on the kitchen table instead, one for Mickey beside it.

Her Torchwood teleport sits on the side table in the living room and she grabs it before taking one last look around.

A picture of the five of them sits on the fireplace, all smiling happily. She takes it from the frame and slides the photo into her pocket beside her money, Torchwood ID and a small black box that contains all her hopes.

A tear escapes her eyes as she squeezes them shut and hits the teleport button.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: A chapter from the Torchwood mob now, did I mention they where going to be in it? I think I did but can't remember…

For any one who isn't familiar with Torchwood (shame on you!) here's a quick intro to the characters.

Captain Jack Harkness: pretty indescribable but I'll give it a bash. He's the leader, he used to travel with the 9th Doctor and Rose, he's attracted to anything with a pulse (although not having one might not stop him either) … oh and he's immortal.

Gwen: Used to be a Police officer and has a husband no one (especially Jack) likes.

Ianto: He's the coffee boy of the Torchwood team but he comes in handy for other things too, he's also more than a little in love with Jack.

Owen: A medic with a bad attitude. He's also dead, although it doesn't seem to have slowed him down too much.

Tosh: The lovable, shy, computer geek. Has a MASSIVE crush on Owen for some unknown reason…

Myfanwy: Torchwoods pet pterodactyl that they keep in the Hub. He came through the Cardiff Rift and began eating sheep, only to be captured by Torchwood and domesticated.

As always can you PLEASE review if you're reading this, it's the lack of feedback which has been causing the long gaps between updates on this fic. I don't know if people are liking it or not :O(

***

"Take the next left Jack," the voice of Tosh came into Jack's earpiece and he turned the wheel of the SUV accordingly, "OK, 200 feet in front of you on your right hand side there's a ally, the energy spike came from the end of it."

"Got it Tosh, thanks." Jack told her as he brought the SUV to a stop at the mouth of the ally.

Jack, Gwen, and Owen climbed out in to the dismal Cardiff night, rain lashing at them from above and below as it ricocheted off the pavement beneath them. Owen stamped his feet as the cold air began to seep in through his thin coat and the three of them drew and checked their weapons. An unknown energy spike has thrown the Hub into alarm only half an hour previous and none of the three Torchwood agents, not even the experienced Captain Jack Harkness, knew what awaited them at the other end of the ally they were now gathered around.

With a nod to his team the three of them advanced, Jack taking point while Owen and Gwen took their positions behind and to either side of him. Slowly they made their way towards the source of the energy spike, clearing the space behind old boxes and strange shadows that the streetlights cast.

Jack held up his hand in a signal to halt when a desperate, almost animal, cry came from the shadows behind the large skip ahead of them.

"Hello?" Gwen called over the sound of the hammering rain, "Are you injured? We have a doctor with us." There was no response that could be heard over the rain. Jack gave another nod and once again the three agents continued forward towards their target.

As they drew closer a whimpering, pained, noise could more clearly be heard. Gwen kept her gun drawn on the shadow as a precaution while Jack and Owen pushed the empty skip further away from the wall but she lowered it with a gasp when the hunched figure was suddenly bathed in light.

The figure curled further into itself as the light hit it, almost recoiling in pain, its fractured mumblings and tortured groans becoming further muffled as it buried its head nearer to its chest and drew its knees tighter against itself.

Gwen knelt beside it and tentatively reached out her hand, "It's alright," She spoke as if to a frightened child, "We're not going to hurt you." The mop of blonde hair which, even drenched with rain, looked lank and unwashed moved slightly as Gwen's hand made contact with an almost skeletal arm. The pathetic figure before her flinched but when Gwen did not remove her hand the head turned towards her and the two brown eyes of a young woman stared up at her, filled with fear and confusion, squinting in the dim light.

"No!" Jack let out a horrified, inaudible, gasp as he looked down at the face, "Oh God please no."

"Are you real?" The woman asked Gwen, her voice cracked and tinged with disbelief.

But Gwen didn't have a chance to answer as suddenly Jack was kneeling in front of the shivering woman, his hands going to cup her face, "Rose?" He asked with as much disbelief in his voice. Gwen and Owen shared a confused look but it was ignored by the two other occupants of the ally that seemed unaware of anyone but the person in front of them.

The woman reached out a bony hand to mirror Jack's grasp on her face, "Jack?" he nodded softly in response, "Are… are you my Jack?" Another nod, this time accompanied by a heart broken smile, "Oh God, I'm sorry Jack, I'm so sorry."

And then she was falling forward into his arms, her tiny trembling frame so fragile against him, "I came so far… so far in the darkness."

He wasn't sure how long he held her like that, crouched in a filthy ally in the pouring rain but it was Owens voice that broke what ever spell had taken hold of them, "Jack we need to get her back to the Hub."

Jack nodded and gathered Rose into his arms, lifting her as if she weighed nothing more a doll. When they reached the SUV Gwen opened the back door and Jack gave her a grim smile of thanks.

The ride back to the Torchwood Hub was silent as Rose lay limp in Jacks embrace.

***

When they arrived back at the Hub Jack rushed passed a confused Ianto and Toshiko straight into the med bay, Owen hot on his heels.

"Get her on the gurney." Owen ordered as he gathered his medical equipment.

As Jack placed Rose down she began to thrash violently, the docile behaviour she had shown the whole ride back evaporating and it was only when Jack once again clasped her face and forced her to make eye contact that she began to calm.

"It's ok Rosie." He told her as, for the first time he was able to take in her whole form in proper light.

What he saw made his heart ache and his blood boil.

Gone was the joyful teenager he remembered and in her place was the gaunt woman before him. She was covered in dirt and the clothes she wore, although once probably expensive and well fitting, where now tattered and hung from her skeletal frame. But worse of all was her face, her beautiful face that had once been his salvation now had dark circles in the deep hollows under her eyes, her cheek bones standing out and creating harsh lines where once there had been only softness. The eyes that had once shone with love and happiness where now filled with fear and sadness.

What could possibly have happened to cause such a change in his young friend?

Rose never once took her eyes from Jack as Owen began to examine her, she didn't even flinch when he inserted an IV line to give her much needed fluids. The others joined them down in the med bay, their curiosity getting the better of them as Jack showed unseen levels of tenderness.

"How is she?" Gwen asked Owen quietly.

The soft noise was enough to bring Rose's attention away from Jack and her all ready pale face became white as snow when her eyes fell on Gwen, "NO!" She cried, "You're Dead!" She once again began to thrash on the gurney, tearing herself away from Jack who tried to hold her down, "I saw you die! No, no, no, no!" Frantic sobs began to break from her chest as she struggled to breath, "Oh god! Please! I have to get out."

"Rosie it's ok, it's just Gwen sweetheart, no one's dead." Jack tried to tell her in a calm voice but to no avail.

Roses wild eyes turned back to him and she raised a hand to cover her mouth as a strangled cry tore itself from her throat, "Is this hell?" She gasped, "Is that what this is? All the people we couldn't save, all the people we left behind? Oh Jack I'm sorry!"

"Shh Rose," Jack stroked her limp hair and wiped a tear that ran down her cheek, "This isn't hell, this is real."

"We just leave…" She mumbled now to herself, "We rush in and we think we've saved the day but we don't ever fix anything! And then we just fly off again, leaving people behind and we forget them, and always with voices singing in our head…" She trailed off shaking her head violently, "No, no that was the TARDIS, got to keep things straight…" She grasped Jacks hand from it's position on her face and brought it in front of her, turning it over and then looking confused as she compared it to her own small hand, "So much blood," She whispered, "Never spilt any of it but it's on our hands."

She wavered slightly as Owen injected something into the IV line in her arm and mouthed '_sedative' _over her shoulder to Jack who nodded in response before directing his gaze back to Rose as he lowered her back down.

She surprised him when, with lightning speed, she reached out and grabbed hold of his wrist, "I always loved you Jack, you know that right?" She pleaded as her eyes fell shut.

"Yeah Rose, I know." But Rose never heard his response or saw the tender look on his face as he swept her hair away from her face.

The moment was broken callously by Owen, "Well thank God for that," He huffed, "Talk about stark raving mad, thought Lady Macbeth here would never shut up."

A growl escaped from Jacks throat as he lunged over the sleeping Rose and grabbed his medic by his lab coat, "Don't you ever disrespect this woman in front of me!" He threatened, his voice now hard and cold, "In fact, don't _ever_ do it, don't even think it! Understood?" He released Owen with a shove and the young medic, with one final check at the displays monitoring his patient, stormed from the med bay, all the while muttering under his breath.

"Jack…" Gwen began hesitantly, always the one to try and mediate between the two.

"The rest of you can go home." He told them without looking away from Rose, "Just… go."

Gwen and Tosh shared a knowing look while Ianto failed to mask the hurt that flashed across his face at Jacks dismissal.

Jack waited until he was sure he was alone in the Hub before leaving Roses side briefly to fetch a bowl of warm water, some soap, a wash cloth, and a comb.

Reverently he pealed away the clothing of his friend and began to clean the grime from her emaciated body. Always making sure to tell Rose what he was doing, keen to reassure her even in her unconscious state that she was safe and he was with her. His hands shook as he ran the cloth over her bare torso, each of her ribs protruding against her taunt skin and her stomach sunken so much it was nothing more than a valley between the thrusts of her hip bones. Once he had cleaned her body he draped it with a warm blanket and began to comb out the tangles from her hair, remembering how she used to love having her hair brushed when they travelled together.

He paused mid stroke and let out a sigh, "Oh Rosie, what happened to you?" He placed a kiss to her forehead, "And where is the Doctor?"


	4. Chapter 4

Just a re-post of the same chapter I put up earlier because I noticed I had messed up the divides a little bit at the end. Let me know what you think and a huge thank you to the people who came back after such a long gap between postings.

DWSG1

The Doctor sits alone in his library, the red glow from the fire casting deep shadows on his ancient face.

"_On your own you can't bring her back but you can help her to get back to you"_

The words weave their way through The Doctors mind. A thousand different possibilities swarm his thoughts, each new one as impossible as the last. For eight days he has sat, motionless, deep in thought. The walls of the void are closed, sealed forever, and opening them again could mean destruction of everyone. There is no way, with all he knows of science and the universe, for Rose to come back. Growing weary his head falls forward and sleep over takes him.

The closely guarded walls around his mind falter and a tiny ember is fanned into a raging inferno.

DWSG1

At Rose Tyler's bedside Captain Jack Harkness worries.

Pacing up and down, six steps between her head and her toes then back again, the same motion endless repeated throughout a night that never seems to end. The slow beeping of her heart monitor the only way he knows she is even alive.

He can only imagine, and he has quite the imagination, what she has been through to bring her to this place in this state.

He can only hope, hope like he hasn't done in over 100 years, that she will survive it.

DWSG1

In the TARDIS consol room Donna Noble grows nervous as the ship shudders around her.

The whole ship vibrates and the air fills with anticipation, a spring coiling tighter and tighter in on itself. She stands, gripping a railing for support, nervousness turning to fear that moments later send her sprinting to find The Doctor.

She's half way down the corridor to the library when the tension breaks. For a single moment her vision is flooded with golden light and a voice sings in her ears. She shakes her head to clear it then, still feeling slightly dazed, continues her journey at double speed.

She finds the Doctor slumped in his chair, the same golden glow she had seen only moment ago emanating softly from him.

She shakes him but he does not wake.

DWSG1

In her kitchen Jackie Tyler cries, a letter gripped painfully tight in her hand.

If she's honest with her self, and right now she doesn't think she can be, she has seen this moment coming for a long time. Everyday they had lived here she had seen her daughter fade a little more until she was only a shadow of her former self.

Jackie always knew one day her daughter would leave her again because in her heart she understands that her daughter has always belonged to the universe.

But a mothers love is a powerful force and for now she is selfish, cursing forces she knows nothing of for taking a child from her.

In her kitchen Jackie Tyler cries.

DWSG1

In the darkness of her mind Rose Tyler is fading away.

Time grows short and what little energy she had left begins to fail her.

In the darkness of it's mind The Bad Wolf howls in a cry that reverberates across all of time and space.

DWSG1

On a nameless planet Vala wakes with the Vortex screaming inside her head.

Her hands fly to her head, grasping it tightly as if to keep the noise inside, and silently she rocks back and forth as the impossible becomes real and her human mind is exposed to things it was never designed for.

The wail of the Vortex, of time, continues and she feels the planet hurtling through time and space beneath her. It is only when Daniel's hands grasp her shoulders, a still point in this turning world, that she is able to gain some measure of control.

It is only then she is able to hear beyond the Vortex, to hear the despairing cry of one voice to another, echoing through all of time.

A voice she knows so well, and just one word, just one name, "Rose!"

The returning howl of "Doctor!" grows forever clearer as the morning sun rises.

DWSG1

The body of Rose Tyler arches violently away from the bed and Jack Harkness recoils in fear as golden light pours from her until he can no longer see his friend.

DWSG1

Eternity washed through her, summoned her; she belonged to it, child of sealed paradox, born at her own hand, created in the moment of her death to bring life. She died, oh she died, a dozen times in an instant, a mistake here, a murder there, an enemy here, for his sake, again, again, again. She died and she lived and he lived and...

_**EVERYBODY LIVES, ROSE!**__  
_  
She was a northern star, not a girl, never a girl, never so mortal, but always so human, never not human, always be human because human is, human must, human is Rose is human...

_**Everything she did was so human.**_

Never simple, never small, and only to hold his hand because he must have a hand to hold because he burns at the heart of Time and he is the only living thing and he died so many times and lived for them and died for them. _"See you in hell". _And though I have all knowledge and though I give up my body to be burned and have not love...

_**I think you need a Doctor.**__  
_  
Doctor, a Doctor, this Doctor, that Doctor. Her Doctor. And she has loved him before already and never met him before and she has always wanted to know him because she knows him and will know him in all his infinite permutations and the moment before that end where he dies of her, she will see it all and love it all and be it all and she will become what she is because what she feels for him is more than even she knew...

_**I lo... I love you**_

Quite right too. Because it is right, it is his right and he hates it and will hate it and the only thing he will ever hate is himself. Everything else is love that must never be spoken because everything he loves dies. One heart belongs to you, the other to the Universe, hold the one you have and hold his hand. Everything belongs to him, was given to him before and after and time and again, given to him by his father, brought to him by his mother, the judgement his because he is alone. He must destroy because the fire and the water purify and wash it clean and it is a cancer and he is a surgeon, the healer for all reality...

_**I want you safe. My Doctor.**_

She brings life and death follows him and they must dance because the Universe will implode if the Doctor does not dance and... and... and...

The truth sweeps her under.

Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me I don't like it. Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow and have a jelly baby because a man is the sum of his memories. A Time Lord even more so. Never more a butterfly, days like crazy pavement. I am the Doctor!

_**Oh, she knows.**_

Time itself hangs on her every breath because someday everything is hers and she will choose you alone above all creation. What you have done what you have become what you must be and will be and everything comes to dust and you must choose when and she will choose you. She made you and you made her and it is perfect balance and perfect sacrifice and Time folded in on itself, the ending in the beginning in the parting of the ways...

_**I create myself.**_

"You were fantastic. And you know what? So was I." Ok, now you've done it say something witty. Flirt with her, she likes that, the most flirtatious line you'll ever know, "Hello, I'm Cap..." No, not yet, stupid. "Oh, new teeth..." Even stupider...

_**He's left me...**_

Rose, my Rose, my precious girl, I can't leave I won't leave, not you, not ever. Dance with me be with me I am me.

One hand reaches out.

One word, just one.

**RUN.**


	5. Chapter 5

AN: New chapter for you all! I hope you'll like it, either way, let me know what you think. :O) More should be up in the next day or so, there's only a few more chapters to go.

Oh… and don't shout at me for the end of this!

DWSG1

Gwen wrinkles her brow as she enters the Hub the next morning. None of the main lights have been turned on and Jack isn't there as usual to greet her with his wide, charming smile. She makes her way to her desk in the gloom and her ears pick up the strains of music playing softly down in the med bay. Taking care not to make any noise she makes her way towards its source, carefully picking her way around piles of folders and discarded pieces of alien tech that litters the floor around cluttered desks. Placing her hands on the railing she looks down at the scene in the med bay below, a soft smile appearing on her face.

Jack is lying on the bed beside Rose, a small lamp illuminating the pair as Jack tenderly runs his fingers through her hair. The music, Gwen realises, is coming from an old gramophone sitting on a small table beside the bed and as she listens she hears the murmur of Jacks voice float up towards her.

"Do you remember this Rosie?" Jack asks, a catch in his throat, "You where hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible space ship." His smile fades when he gets no reply and he lets out a sigh before kissing her forehead, "I never stood a chance."

There's a few moments of silence as the track on the gramophone comes to an end and Jack leaves Roses side momentarily to reset it. Glen Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" begins again and Gwen hears Jack hum along for a moment as he checks the machines around Rose. Even from this distance Gwen can tell that things are not good with the young woman. Her now clean skin is far too pale and the dark circles under her eyes stand out like ugly bruises. She looks on thoughtfully as Jack tends to Rose and is once again left pondering the mystery that is her boss and how little any of them truly know about him. She's never seen him like this before, even under his fear and worry she can see the pure joy at having this woman back by his side, she can see the love he has for her shine through in his every action. She knows Jack is an affectionate person but his tenderness was new, even as he checks the different monitors he makes sure that he is always in physical contact with Rose; his hand on her forearm, his fingers in her hair; a hand trailing down her leg as he makes his way to the foot of the bed then gently stroking her foot through the blanket.

It's the slight hitch in Jacks throat as he looks at a screen Gwen can see that finally makes her decided to make her presence known. "Jack?" she calls quietly, coming down the stairs to stand beside him, her arm falling to rest gently on his shoulder. He turns to face her and Gwen's heart sinks at the look on his face, "It's not good is it?"

Jack shakes his head, his eyes screwing shut against tears, "No, it's not." His voice is a hoarse whisper, thick with emotions Gwen can't begin to understand.

"Owen will be in soon, maybe he'll be able to help, see something you've overlooked?" She tries to sound optimistic but it sounds false and hollow to both their ears.

Looking sadly down at Rose Jack's head shakes again, "Owen's not the Doctor she needs." When he looks back at Gwen his composure has returned and the Captain she knows is back, "Will you stay with her? I need to call Martha Jones." Jack doesn't wait for a reply, he simply turns away without looking back, making his way to his office to make one of the hardest phone calls of his life.

DWSG1

Donna winces as The Doctor's head bounces off the back of the captains chair. It's taken her almost twenty minuets to drag his prone form from the library and hoist him up onto the chair. The weird gold glow from before has gone but Donna is no less worried, panic is not a state that Donna often finds her self in but now she can feel it creeping it's way into her chest.

"Come on space boy, wake up!" She gives him another shove in the chest, having moved passed gentle concern some time ago, "What am I meant to do?" This last request is spoken more to the TARDIS than The Doctor and the ship responds with as close to a roll of her eyes as she can convey, a purple button on the console lighting up and flashing, "Okay, okay, no need for the attitude." Donna mutters as she makes her way over and slams her fist down on the button.

The reaction from the TARDIS is instant and with a smother trip than Donna can ever remember the Doctor pulling off the TARDIS takes her straight to Vala.

Donna only makes it halfway to the doors before they fly open and Vala is running up the ramp past her and towards The Doctor, "What's wrong with him?" Vala shouts on her way past.

"Well how am I meant to know!" Donna shouts back, anger replacing worry for a moment, "That's why we're here. He went all moody after the last time we saw you and then a few hours ago the TARDIS started all this shakin' and freaking out, then he was glowing and now this!"

Vala takes a deep breath to calm herself slightly, realising that taking her worry out on Donna wont help the situation. Ever since the night before when she had woken to the screaming of the Vortex she had been waiting anxiously either for the TARDIS to appear or word from The Doctor to let her know what was happening. When SG1 had got back to Earth Vala had used all her energy to try and look into the timelines for a clue as to what had happened but the jumbled mass of images she saw had left her unconscious in the infirmary for six hours. "How long has he been unconscious?"

"I'm not sure, it's been at least half an hour since I found him I reckon but I don't know how long before that." She watches Vala try and rouse The Doctor by shaking him gently, "I tried that already, he doesn't wake up, not even when I dragged him in here. You know, for a streak of bacon in a suit he aint half heavy to drag about."

"Right," Vala says, a determined look coming over her face, "One last try. If this doesn't work we'll move on to more drastic measures."

Donna's about to ask what 'more drastic measures' means when Vala raises her right hand and slaps The Doctor full force across the cheek. Vala lets out a groan, grasping her hand, "Oh for the love of Rassilon that stings."

Donna's too busy staring in shock at Vala to notice The Doctors eyes open. It's not until he lets out a scream of his own and sits up grasping his cheek that either of the women notice him, "What did you do that for!" he shouts in indignation.

"Well you didn't seem to be waking up any other way Theta." Vala tells him, a smug smile coming over her face.

"But I tried that!" Donna exclaims, her shock finally giving way, "He never even flinched when I did it, or the few times I dropped him on the way in here," She pauses sheepishly as the other two stare at her, "Or when he smacked his head on the back of the chair when I sat him down…"

Absently The Doctor brings the hand not clutching his cheek up to rub the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it Donna," Vala tells her, smile still firmly in place, "I'm sure he could of used a good thump to the back of the head and the reason it didn't work for you is that it needed a good deal of psychic force behind it. He was hidden so deep in his own mind that the universe could have collapsed around us and he wouldn't have noticed."

"Vala?" The Doctor asks slowly, his senses coming back to him, "What's going on?"

The smile slips from Vala's face, "You know how I said you could have 'slept' through the universe collapsing around us?" She wait's a moment until Donna and The Doctor nod in response, "Well… The universe is collapsing around us."

SG1DW

At 11:30 Martha Jones spots Jack sitting on the edge of the fountain above the Torchwood hub. His are shoulders slumped in resignation, his head bowed down as if the weight of the world rested upon him, with his hands clasped between his knees Martha could almost mistake him for someone praying.

"Jack?" She calls as she makes her way to sit beside him, "What's going on? What couldn't you tell me over the phone?"

Jack hands her one of the coffee cups that's sitting between his feet before lifting his own to his lips and taking a long sip.

"Rose is in the hub." He tells her with no preamble.

A twinge of jealousy Martha thought she had long since gotten over flares in her chest and her whole body tenses at the mention of Roses name.

"She appeared last night," A mirthless chuckle escapes from Jack, "Crossed the Void somehow and turned up here, in Cardiff. My team found her."

"And you want me to call The Doctor to come and get her." The words come out harsher than either of them are expecting.

"I… I don't know Martha," Its only now that he raises his head to look her in the eye and she can finally see the sorrow and pain painted thick on his normal smiling face, "I don't know what to do."

"You can't keep her from him Jack, he would never forgive you." The instinctive jealousy she feels for Rose fades in the face of Jacks emotions, "And if she found a way to cross the void to him then how long do you think you'll be able to keep her from seeking him out on her own?"

Jacks head tips back to look at the sky and he lets out a long breath before returning his gaze to her," You don't understand Martha, Rose is dying."

SG1DW

"What?" Both Donna and The Doctor exclaim at Vala's statement.

"Well, not the universe per say, but time is beginning to unravel itself." All humour has gone from Vala now, her mind and body subconsciously slipping back into the roll of a Time Lord, "While we're in the TARDIS we're isolated from the cascade but it's happening none the less."

"I don't understand, how can that happen?" The Doctor asks as he rises to begin fiddling with the TARDIS controls, taking readings from the instruments and setting scans, "Time doesn't just begin to unravel."

"Has something like this happened before?" Donna asks nervously, "Can't you fix it."

"I've never heard of this happening before Donna, up until Vala said it I didn't think it was even possible." He paces around the console some more and what little colour he had in his face drains, "But it appears to be happening."

"Time lines are losing their stability, everything's falling into a state of flux, melding together." Vala explains to the confused looking Donna, "Theta, what exactly happened while you where unconscious?"

The Doctor pauses, his hands trembling slightly as they hover over the console, "I was in the library," The words come out slowly, as if he's constructing the memories as he speaks, "And then I was… everywhere." His brow wrinkles in confusion and a shaking hand runs its way through his hair, "Rose was there, only she wasn't, she was calling to me but somehow it wasn't her."

"What about the TARDIS Donna?" Vala questions, "You said she 'freaked out'?"

"Well one minuet everything was fine and then she started shaking and there was… there was this light, all golden and someone was singing, like there was music everywhere and then it all stopped. I found space boy here keeled over in the library and he was glowing the same as the TARDIS had been."

"Singing…" The Doctor mumbles, "Singing and golden lights, and Rose…" His eyes close for a moment as memories wash over him and he is swept away by a tidal wave of emotion, "Bad Wolf." he sighs, "Why does it always come back to this."

"Bad Wolf?" Donna repeats, puzzled, "That's the name of that band that was playing, remember? When we went to Coronas eight and we got chased through that nightclub? What have they got to do with it?"

The Doctors head snaps up to look at her, "What? Donna think, and think _very_ carefully, have you seen those words, that name, anywhere else we've been? Any place at all!"

But it's not Donna that answers, it's Vala, "I've heard it, that phrase 'Bad Wolf', it was the name of a bar on Canton." Vala gets lost in her own thoughts for a moment, "I still owe the owner 60 danari for the room we stayed in… shouldn't have expected that Time Agent to stay and pay the tab in the morning…"

"Vala," The Doctors voice is low and filled with suspicion, "This Time Agent, he wouldn't happen to be, oh say 6ft 2"? Dark hair? American accent from the 51st century? Could charm the shorts off the high priestess of Io? "

"Theta do you really think this is the time to be delving into my personal life? There are slightly more important things to be worrying about."

"Just answer the question Celesia!" He digs into his pockets and draws out a rather crumpled photograph, handing it to Vala, "Was this him?"

Vala squints for a moment, trying to see beyond the creases of the photo, "Yes…" She says slowly, "How did you know that?"

"Jack _bloody _Harkness!" The Doctor screeches, "He's got Rose!"

"What?" Donna asks, now more confused than ever, "How can you be so sure of that? And what's this whole 'Bad Wolf' thing about?"

"Bad Wolf is a message," The Doctor explained, "But it's also Rose. She took the time vortex into herself to save me and once she was done she scattered the words all across time and space to lead herself back to me. She created her own paradox."

"And now because Vala saw the words when she was with Jack you think that means she's with Jack? I still don't understand it Doctor."

"Rose had all of time running through her head Donna, she could see everything,_all that is, all that was, all that ever could be." _A huge grin creeps its way across his face, "Oh Rose! You smart girl! Think about it Donna, just think, why would Rose leave a message for herself on a planet we never went to, a planet that it just so happens there is a Time Agent that we will meet and where there is another Time Lord? She _knew_!"

"Then what are we waiting for space boy?"

DWSG1

Martha stood looking down at the frail form of Rose Tyler. After all the stories, all the off hand comments, this is not how she imagined her. Skinny and sickly looking the woman before her paid almost no resemblance to the young woman Jack and The Doctor had spoken about. As she looked at her Martha felt the last drops of her jealousy melt away, she had seen how much The Doctor missed Rose, how much it pained him to think of her let alone speak openly about her, but now, seeing what the other woman had been through, had done to herself, to get back to him she finally began to understand. As much as she loved The Doctor, either romantically like she had in the past or platonically like she did now, she would never be able to bring herself to this for him. She would fight for him, possibly even die for him, but she would throw her life away on the slim chance of seeing him again.

"What's wrong with her?"

"As far as we can tell, nothing." Jack tells her, "There's no medical reason we can find, she just seems to be… shutting down." He's by Rose's side again, his hand grasping hers tightly, as if the physical connection will keep her with him, "Do you understand now Martha? If I bring The Doc back here and she dies, think what that would do to him? How can _I _do that to him?"

"But what if there's something he can do for her Jack? Some kind of treatment we don't know about?" She understands Jacks reluctance to bring The Doctor to see this, understands possibly more than he how much this would hurt him but she's still unsure.

"Treatment? Treatment for what Martha? She's not ill, as far as Owen can tell she's in perfect health apart from the fact her body is slowly shutting down!"

"And if she does die? What then Jack? You can't keep it from him forever, and if he finds out she was here, that she _died _and you knew about it, that you kept him from seeing her one more time, what then?"

Their debate comes to a halt when two golden brown eyes slowly open slightly and Rose stares up at them, "Jack?" her voice cracks and Jack feels his heart crack a little right along with it.

"I'm here Rosie, I'm here." He tries to smile, to reassure her that things will be ok but he knows he's making a poor showing of it, "You're gonna be fine sweetheart."

"No I'm not," She tells him simply, her eyes fluttering shut for a moment before opening again, "I'm dying Jack."

"Don't say that, Rose, we'll find a way to help you. There's always a way." A bony hand reaches across and cups his face. Her skin is so soft, just like he remembers it being, everything about Rose was always so soft, so welcoming and inviting. "You just have to hang on a little longer ok?"

"I came so far Jack…I… I'm so tired." This time it's a lot longer before she gathers the energy to speak again, "I…"

But what ever she was about to say is lost as her eyes fall shut and chaos erupts around her as the machines monitoring her blaze into life, screeching that her heat has stopped beating, that she's no longer breathing.

Jack's pushed back as Martha and Owen set to work, pumping drugs into Roses system, putting a tube down her throat to breathe for her, trying to restart her heart, anything the can think of to bring her back.

Only Gwen hears his anguished whisper as he sinks to the floor and she kneels beside him, her arms wrapping around his trembling frame. "I didn't think it would end like this."


End file.
